MHUG 2023 ConferenceWhat would it take to make your team of inspectors work even more efficiently? Simply asking this question may have countless municipal leaders shaking their heads, ready to talk about a lack of additional budget to hire more staff or invest in extensive resources.
But what if all it took was a mobile app? Imagine an app specifically created with the needs of inspectors in mind. Read on to find out how you can streamline your inspectors’ working days and help your entire team collaborate seamlessly.
How the FastTrackGov® (FTG) Mobile App Works
Mitchell Humphrey & Co.’s software developers designed the FTG mobile app with the needs of municipal inspectors in mind. Available for Android and iOS operating systems, the app allows inspectors to access all the information they need in the field.
The app connects with the FTG software applications back at the municipality offices, helping inspectors access everything municipality employees can access from their desks.
Inspectors can enter results and comments and upload pictures they took on-site rather than having to wait to upload their findings later in the day at the office. The app automatically synchronizes with the software at the municipality office, helping administrators understand the outcomes and issue certificates and payment requests.
Advantages of the FTG Mobile Inspection App
The FTG mobile inspection app puts all the advantages of FTG into the hands of municipal inspectors. One simple way of looking at those benefits is to divide them into phases:
- Pre-inspection advantages
- Advantages during the inspection
- Post-inspection advantages
1. Pre-Inspection Advantages
Inspectors and other municipality employees will start to experience the benefits of the FTG mobile inspection app even before they hit the road.
The app minimizes the time required to prepare for inspections. Instead of compiling paperwork detailing planning applications or the results of previous inspections and arriving at the inspection site with multiple folders, inspectors can access everything from their mobile devices.
Traditionally, collecting the information needed for inspections not only required the inspectors’ time but also needed input from the administrative team. By collating all relevant data on the FTG platform and connecting the mobile inspection app to the platform, municipalities simplify inspection preparation for their entire team.
The FTG mobile inspection app allows inspectors to get directions to their inspection sites and access those, even when they have no mobile reception. Your team avoids wasting time looking for locations and maximizes time spent inspecting properties.
2. Advantages During the Inspection
Traditional inspections have involved plenty of forms, handwritten notes, and folders of data and documents. Despite inspectors/best intentions and hard work, audit quality and efficiency tended to suffer from this approach.
Inspectors gain easy access to the site’s inspection history and understand whether there is incomplete work to be checked. Audit visits become less time-consuming and more cost-effective as inspectors complete evaluations on-site following standard documents.
Experienced inspectors benefit by shortening the time needed for individual appointments. Newer inspectors can take advantage of standardized forms to follow, removing uncertainty from their visit and limiting the risk of missing something or making a mistake.
Business owners and residents benefit from the peace of mind of knowing that their inspection has been carried out properly, following applicable standards, and that results have been recorded directly.
Connecting current to historic inspection results, making sections repeatable, adding attachments, and automating relevant calculations all contribute to the effectiveness and accuracy of inspection results.
3. Post-Inspection Advantages
The advantages for municipalities, businesses, and residents continue even after an inspection visit is completed.
Using a traditional approach, businesses and contractors needed to wait for the inspector to return to their base and complete relevant paperwork before results could be finalized. Sharing inspection data across municipality departments could prove difficult and time-consuming.
To illustrate the potential time savings: most inspectors have downtime between appointments. In some cases, this time was used to drive from one location to another, but it is not always possible to schedule consecutive appointments.
With the FTG mobile inspection app, inspectors can fill these gaps in their schedule by completing inspection findings on the go. Updated results become available quicker, minimizing costly delays for all stakeholders.
How FTG Can Help Ensure Compliance
Most industries and businesses are subject to government and other regulatory standards. Using mobile inspection software allows municipalities to standardize the process and the approach inspectors use during their work.
The goal is to build compliance into the process and remove any doubt that all relevant standards are being met and adhered to. Taking this approach eliminates the need for repeated inspections to cover items that were potentially missed during previous visits.
With a standardized approach, it also becomes easier for inspectors to spot non-compliance issues and rectify them before there is a need for significant fines.
Attracting More Businesses to Your Community
Throughout this blog, we have focused on the benefits of the mobile inspection app for inspectors and other municipal employees. Those are the primary benefits, for sure, but it is equally worth considering the impact of the app and a digital-first approach on the entire community.
Using FTG and its mobile inspection app allows your municipality team to deliver inspections and deal with permitting and licensing faster than ever before. Gathering information quickly and accurately and turning inspections around efficiently will help your community build a reputation as a business-friendly location.
Those types of communities attract more successful businesses that are looking to grow and develop in a supportive environment. This is how committing to your digital transformation with the help of purpose-built software and a mobile app can secure the future of your community for decades to come.
How to Implement FastTrackGov and the FTG Mobile Inspection App
Many municipalities across the United States are already using FTG to streamline their administrative processes, increase the productivity of their employees, and allow their teams to work more effectively for the benefit of residents and businesses.
FTG was designed to be as flexible and customizable as possible. Municipalities can choose to transition fully and implement digital technology across all departments at the same time. Alternatively, they can also choose the most relevant modules to meet their needs and implement digital technology in stages.
No matter which approach your municipality chooses, all employees benefit from access to extensive training and continued support.
Conclusion
The FTG mobile inspection app transforms the way your inspectors work in the field. Preparing and conducting inspections as well as recording results and sharing information with office-based teams is done more expeditiously.
Inspectors benefit from being able to complete their tasks in less time. Office-based teams enjoy more seamless communications and fewer delays. Sharing information and collaborating between departments becomes smoother and easier.
The result is simple – your community becomes more attractive to leading businesses than ever before. Talk to our team today and find out how FTG and its mobile app can benefit your municipality.